US Government to Launch New Video Platform

The U.S. government will launch a new Video.gov platform, said White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin at a Gov 2.0 Summit last week.

So far, there are millions of public-domain videos in government archives, but many are not digitized or posted for public viewing. Nonprofits, such as Public.Resource.Org, have so far taken up the project of posting content, something McLaughlin said inspired Video.gov. McLaughlin set the goal of posting three times as much content as the nonprofit.

“This is the challenge for the next year: a Video.gov platform that will connect all of the disparate video archives of the federal government departments and agencies, as well as easy access to feeds and an inspiring presentation of live video feeds from across the government,” he said.

“In addition to opening the archives, this initiative should also seek ways to provide more video of current activities, such as public hearings,” he added. “In this interconnected age, live video online offers new possibilities to expand participation: for instance, by enabling citizens to ask questions of their public officials in real time, whether they’re in Washington or Wyoming.